I first read Sorairo Girlfriend right around the time I finished Blue Friend. Though not nearly as overwhelming as the latter, this cute yuri manga nevertheless offers a compelling and, at times, emotional read. Set in high school where people are mean, cliques are cruel, and love is confusing, Sorairo Girlfriend follows the budding relationship between Hiromi and Juri.
As a child, Hiromi dreamed of being a princely knight. [1] When a new student, Juri, transfers to Hiromi’s class, this innocent childhood fantasy is rekindled. Juri is a stunning, alluring girl with a very harsh personality and a caustic tongue. Thus, despite how cute she is, she still manages to alienate most of the class on the first day. When Hiromi defends and befriends her, she becomes quite attached to Hiromi. Juri even casts Hiromi as Romeo and herself as Hiromi’s Juliet.
Faced with Juri’s aggressive and possessive behavior, Hiromi grows unsure of her own feelings for Juri. To complicate things further, Hiromi’s best friend is unhappy with Juri’s quickly dominating presence in Hiromi’s life. Still, Juri continues to push Hiromi’s personal boundaries, and eventually crosses the lines of friendship. An unexpected kiss on stage during the school play – conveniently Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet – sends Hiromi’s heart into a turmoil. Hiromi pushes Juri away, runs from the stage, and avoids school for the next few days. When she finally returns to school, she finds the class has not only isolated Juri, but also bullies her for her lesbian act. Will this Romeo and Juliet story again end in tragedy? Or will Hiromi be Juri’s handsome knight?
I found Sorairo Girlfriend incredibly captivating. It has a very nice blend of adorable scenes and intense moments. Although many elements of the manga are clichés, the story remains fresh. Prince-like heroines [2] and school plays starring two girls in romantic roles [3] are common in yuri manga. In fact, even Romeo and Juliet seems to be a favorite of the genre. [4] However, these tropes never feel tired because of a certain degree of realism integrated into the complex plot. I particularly like the turning point of Hiromi and Juri’s relationship, which is driven to some extent by the harassment Juri faces. It is so refreshing to see Sorairo Girlfriend touch upon discrimination. Further, while the manga does deal with more serious issues, it does not become emotionally exhaustive, and maintains a fairly gentle atmosphere.
Juri also helps to keeps the story from being bland. I enjoy watching Juri completely disregard Hiromi’s comfort zone. Her powerful presence and stark personality is so charming. Besides, I love manipulative girls!
I also love the beautiful art style. They are so cute.
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- Hiromi wants to be Princess Sapphire from the anime Ribon no Kishi, who dresses up as a prince. Instead of marrying the prince from a neighboring land, Hiromi instead wants to be together with the gorgeous witch.
- One of my favorite presentation of this motif is in the visual novel, A Kiss for the Petals – My Dear Prince.
- Strawberry Panic!, Aoi Hana, and Marimite all have school plays.
- This reminds me of the play in K-On!!, in which Mio and Ritsu have lead roles. And yes, Mio and Ritsu are a yuri couple.
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Hohoho, this looks like a definite future read for me. Well done describing how though it uses many classic yuri tropes, it still feels lovely and fresh. Wonderful review as always Yi-san.
I think you might really enjoy it. It’s fairly light, but does have a nice emotional climax. It’s kind of just the right balance of sweet fluff and substance for me. I hope you like it too.
Where did you find the extra chapters? I thought Tranquil Springs recently translated the 1st chapter and haven’t got any further than that. What’s your secret Yi-san?
Never mind. I figured others already asked the same thing I just did. Ah well, I’ll wait for TS to slowly release the other chapters. you’re right Yi-san, I do like it so far.
Good to hear that you’re enjoying it. And I hope you find Juri as lovely as I do. ^ ^
Anyway, I only translated and edited those few pages for the sake of the post. I don’t really have the time and energy to actually do the whole volume. More importantly, Tranquil Spring has taken up the project and is doing a lovely job with it. So I guess you’d have to wait.
Hehe, caustic tongue.
It’s nice how aggressive Juri is. From the limited amounts of yuri manga I’ve seen, they’re usually quite timid and unsure. Juri is basically the opposite as she’s so incredibly confident. Refreshing.
Agreed. While I wouldn’t say strong confident girls are that rare in yuri, it’s certainly very refreshing to see someone so sure of what she wants and so willing to aggressively go after it. I also love Juri’s don’t-care-for-anyone-else’s-thoughts kind of attitude. She makes the manga so much fun!
Thanks for the review Yi.
” Instead of marrying the prince from a neighboring land, Hiromi instead wants to be together with the gorgeous witch.”
Of course!
Marrying prince is already obsolete, gorgeous witch is the new way to go! :3
Yep yep. Gorgeous witch is obviously the better choice!
i wonder !~! i wonder, still prince is lame. Well better annyoing witch then prince the narcist.~~ No matter how i look, atleast should have read that manga then make a comment about, i will try^^ doing it.
Please do give it a try. I think it’s pretty good if you don’t mind yuri.
p.s. The witch isn’t really annoying… or at least not in Sorairo Girlfriend. ^ ^
Very interesting read. This will be something I would like to read in the future. I have not really dove into the yuri genre yet, but this seems like a pretty decent start if I ever do. I am already curious how far their relationship will progress ^^
I hope you enjoy it. This should be a decent entry into yuri. I would also recommend checking out Girl Friend by Morinaga Milk. I think that’s one of the most representative work from the genre, but it’s kind of long.
Anyway, Sorairo Girlfriend is nice in that the whole story wraps up in only one volume. I really like it!
Hmmm…I thought only chapter one was out? Where did you find the rest of the chapters?
Thanks..
=)
I think there is only one chapter scanlated into English by Tranquil Spring so far, but more will come.
I read the rest on Yamibo, which is not an English forum. The pages above are self-translated and edited.
Yamibo- makes me wish I studied harder at Chinese school…
=(
That forum might be a good place to get some fun practice. ^ ^
Hehe, nah..its a bit too time consuming always having to look up words in the dictionary..
and plus, I can’t type in Chinese…
=)
Ahh I see. Well, the chapters from Tranquil Spring should come out pretty quickly I think.
Hey, if its ok, do you think you can give me a link to the Chinese version. Been thinking about it, and may give it a shot..
Tranquil Spring- I want more Octave from them before anything else ^^
It’s on Yamibo. You might need to register an account.
Agreed about Octave!
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Short but sweet. And agreed, the art looks lovely. The editors must have poured their hearts out for all those Yuri fans out there. It’s so…clean. Lol.
And ditto again. Manipulative girls are a must in any kind of romance, whether they’re an eliminate character or not
Thanks for the review nevertheless! Great read.
I really liked the way the characters are drawn. It’s a bit reminiscent of shoujo manga, but not really. Those huge eyes and long eyelashes. Sooo cute.
Anyway, glad you like manipulative girls too. ^ ^
The first thing You remembered me with this review is “Strawberry Panic”, that was a nice anime. I’ll maybe give a look at this manga for the next april japan shipment.
There are some similarities between the two, but mostly only because of both being in the yuri genre. Strawberry Panic is mostly about the various love triangles among a huge cast of characters, whereas Sorairo Girlfriend is more about two people realizing what kind of relationship they want and going after it. Also, this is a single volume manga, which makes it much lighter.
Anyway, Tranquil Spring has the first chapter scanlated. You could check it out there too. I hope you like it. ^ ^
I’ll give it a try after I complete some of my manga backlog.
I think in a story usually the character with strong personality is either the one who drives the development of a story or make us the audience (me, for example. haha) view it at a different angle. So I enjoy characters with such personalities.
Oh my, the last two pictures you’ve got here – especially the second last one – are sooo pretty. I like that such effort was made to ensure a scene is drawn with such great details. Amazing. It’s definitely a plus for the artwork.
I think you’re probably right about strong personalities. They’re often much more interesting as the center of a catalytic event!
I think so too. The details and the girls all look so beautiful. I think it really made the reading so much more fun. I usually care a lot about the art style when I read manga, and this one certainly works for me.
The Blue Friend link above is actually pointing to your Ore no Imouto fashion post. I noticed because I’ve been a bit neglectful of my feed reader lately (okay, more than a bit) and totally missed that earlier post. And this makes two more titles added to my reading list. Thanks.
Thanks for letting me know. That’s kind of embarrassing. Haha. This is what happens when you pull an all-nighter and try to write a post. I also totally forgot to add that last image, and had to do it this morning.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the posts. Thank you for reading! ^ ^
Nothing to be embarrassed about, I can’t imagine putting together anything coherent (much less enjoyable) without any sleep and I would have sent you a DM on twitter but I hoped that you’d finally decided to get some rest.
I always enjoy your posts, but I admit that I only skimmed the Blue Friend one, bookmarking it for a thorough read once I get a chance to check out the manga. I’ve enjoyed every one of your recommendations so far though.
Aw… You’re far too kind. I suppose we have pretty similar tastes. ^ ^
Fantastic, thanks for the great review Yi-chan, one more Manga for the download basket, jeje. After a long period without reading manga’ll start with this work and the past works of Yuri Hime, especially those of Chi-Ran (I Looove her works!!!!!) and the most recent Doujin of Milk Morinaga.
Again, thanks, and only one more thing: “…Mio and Ritsu are a yuri couple.” A very strong statement XP (For the Die-Hard Fans of K-On!)
Bye-nee!!!
I hope you enjoy Sorairo Girlfriend. I read this and Blue Friend after a long period of not reading any yuri manga, and this was really a great manga to return to. Anyway, I should catch up with Yuri Hime as well. And I love CHI-RAN too! Her stories are usually kind of wtf, but her art style is so pretty.
“Again, thanks, and only one more thing: “…Mio and Ritsu are a yuri couple.” A very strong statement XP (For the Die-Hard Fans of K-On!)”
Haha, I stand by what I said. ^ ^
Pardon me Yi,this is unrelated to this post;but I’ve been wanting to ask you since long,do you have MAL account?If so I’d like to see your anime list with ratings (if you have rated them).So could you please give me its link?
Yep yep. My account is yihsieh. http://myanimelist.net/profile/yihsieh
I think I’ve rated all the anime I’ve watched. I couldn’t do the same with manga though. Just so hard to keep track of them all.
p.s. I consider 5 a so-so show. Nothing bad, nothing good or some good, some bad that averages out. 6 is a decently fun watch. 7 is really really solid and I’d recommend to others. 8 is a step above that. 9 and 10 are among my favorites.
Thank you
Manipulative girls may be annoying in real life, but make for great stories.
They’re only annoying if they’re not on your side. ^ ^
Either way, I love them in anime.
They never are. ;_;
Then you should become one yourself!
This post reminded me of a yuri manga I still need to finish (Girlfriends). It’s more “doki doki” and not as forceful, but I think it’s good.
Ooh that’s a good one. Very doki doki indeed. I love Girl Friend too!
Someday… I’ll read this.
There’s only one chapter, so it shouldn’t take up too much time. I hope you like it if you do pick it up. ^ ^
Hidoi Yi-san. Your teaser tweets have ignited my desire for more chapters and made me impatient. Curse those teasers. Hidoi Yi-san…teehee.
Haha, sorry about that. The chapters are even better than those teaser pages hint at. ^ ^
p.s. For those interested in the teaser tweets…
Enjoyed reading your review. I will have to check out more of this series as it comes available. Looks like a fun read. Thanks again for the review!
Glad you enjoyed my review and thanks for visiting!
The later chapters build up to a climax nicely, and ends with a satisfying resolution. I think it’s definitely something worth following.
“Besides, I love manipulative girls!”–Haha no wonder why you’re a Yuuna fan ^^
I always want to ask my Chinese friends to browse Yamibo and translate even a non-yuri work, but I’m worried about what will be their reaction. Hopefully, Tranquil Spring will release the other chapters soon (and Octave too!).
Btw, have you seen gravity by Momono Moto? It’s only a doujin but it’s nice, one of the characters is a yandere.
Haha yea. I have a particular fondness for these types of girls, so I love Yuuna, as well as Mai and Sara. I might also be a bit of an M… j/k
I just read Gravity by Momono Moto. It’s pretty good. The story seems a bit forced, but I love the characters. And I really like the yandere too. Thanks for the recommendation. ^ ^
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so, just to be sure, the only translated chapter of Sorairo Girlfriend is chapter 1?
if that is the case, i’ll wait for the other chapters
btw, how long is chapter 1?
cuz the one i downloaded is just 14 pages long.
That sounds about right. The chapters are all pretty short. I think Tranquil Springs is scanlating this, and they’ve released only one chapter so far.
Actually, second chapter just released a few days ago.
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where else can i read this other than the chinese site?
Hm… I think Tranquil Spring is doing a wonderful job scanlating this: http://goo.gl/obNA3
Where can I read more chapters if this manga?? I’m just find to ch 4 -.- , but you have that images http://twitpic.com/41a0lg http://twitpic.com/40b5an Where did you find it? >w<
Oh, I don’t think it’s scanlated up to those pages yet when I wrote this post, so I scanlated those pages myself.
I think Tranquil Spring (http://www.tranquilspring.com/projects/sorairo-girlfriend/) is the group scanlating this, so you can go check out their website, and contact them about updates. Good luck!
So you’ve read the whole thing? Please tell me they don’t die at the end. All those Romeo and Juliet allusions are making me nervous.
*spoilers* Yea, they don’t die. ^ ^ Actually, the story isn’t so angsty such that one’d expect a deathly tragic ending.
It isn’t, but Yuri manga sometimes have a tendency of taking u-turns like that. I can’t wait for Tranquil Spring to release the next chapter (finding raws online seems nearly impossible).
Also, how many chapters are there in all?
There’s only one volume, so if I remember right, 7 chapters. (Or somewhere around there… I don’t have my laptop right now.)